Philosophy Introduction - Brief Terminology

Philo- love, Sophia- the light (philosophia)
Philosophy- the use of reason and argument to search for truth and knowledge about reality
Detachment- the separation of self interest from intellectual judgement
Gadfly- one who asks uncomfortable questions
Practical Men- those for whom life holds no mysteries
Common Sense- normal social expectation
Rationalism(t)- truth is revealed through question and thought
Empiricism(t)- truth is revealed through our senses
Empirical Value- is obtained using the senses, some information can be empirical
Logic- a process of rational thought in which the conclusions are inescapable if the premises are accepted (conclusion is certain/inevitable)
Informal Logic- analyzing and evaluating arguments and questions that we use consistently everyday
Critical Thinking- an approach to ideas from the standpoint of deliberate consideration (examine and take into consideration more or other reasonable points on the idea before you accept)
Formal Logic- deductions that are or seem self evident (way of determining validity/invalidity of a conclusion/inference)
Knowledge- facts and truth (ideas which can be consistently verified) & is acquired through observation or reasoning
Numerology- the science of forecasting the future with numbers
Reason- is a statement or action that justifies or supports a belief or action
Reasoning- the process of providing reasons in support of an idea or an action
Argument- use of reason to support an idea, point of view, action or disagreement
Conclusion- a general idea or an action and is based on premises or reasons
Premise- the beginning, the first statement in an argument
Inference- process of drawing conclusions from the premise(s)
Antecedent- the first premise
Consequent- following from/second premise
Valid- pertaining to argument an argument is valid if it is present in an accepted, proven form
Deduction/Deductive Reasoning- if premises are accepted, conclusions must also
Induction/Inductive Reasoning- argument producing probable, not certain, results
Inductive Generalization- uses specific examples to draw general conclusions
Statistical Induction- conclusions are usually expressed as a numerical premise
Induction by Conformation- a form of reason which seeks observations as support for a hypothesis
Relevance- determining if information presented have any bearing on matters at hand
Bias- a prejudice or preference for or against a particular point of view (ie. feminist POV)
Reliability- information and a source that's credible and can be trusted